Beetham Tower architect Ian Simpson has apologised after the Manchester skyscraper kept city centre residents awake by humming in the wind.

A noise nuisance probe has been launched at the 47-storey building by environmental health officers after a string of complaints about the din.

Residents in areas ranging from Miles Platting to Chorlton said the sound of the low hum emitted by the glass blade at the building had disturbed their sleep.

The building vibrated noisily in the wind on Monday night and again on Wednesday night as winds gusting to over 90 miles per hour were recorded across Greater Manchester.

Mr Simpson, who lives in an apartment on the top floor of the 168m (551 ft) tower, the tallest residential building in Europe, said that he had heard the noise himself and pledged to take action.

He explained that the noise is created by wind passing over glass fins on the blade at the top of the tower. The blade was added to the building for design reasons and does not have a practical purpose.

“It’s like wind blowing over a leaf”, Mr Simpson said. “We are working with acoustic specialists to determine a new way forward. We don’t need to remove the whole of the blade. We might remove the glass.

“I am completely aware of the noise because I live at the top of the building. I would like to apologise for that and we are looking to address it so that next year we don’t have the same problem.”

He added: “At the end of the day it’s not supposed to make noise. We have got to address it because it’s causing distress.”

He warned that the noise may continue through January if there is more stormy weather ahead.

Mr Peel said: “Environmental health has a duty to respond to this because it’s a noise nuisance.

“It [the blade] doesn’t serve any logical purpose and it’s disturbing the residents. I think they should take the damn thing off.”

City centre chief, coun Pat Karney, was also among those disturbed by the din.

He said: "Hundreds of city centre residents were kept up til the early hours with this singing Beetham Tower for the second time this week.

"I live in the Northern Quarter and it was the first time I could hear it really loudly, til about 1.30am. It's a really ghostly unsettling sound and we've had emails into the council from residents all over the city centre, particularly on Liverpool Road.

“We recognise it was exceptionally windy conditions but we need to look again at this problem and see if there's anything we can do and I will be calling an urgent meeting with the owners of Beetham Tower and the architect."